With climate change and the demand to create a responsible and adaptive built environment, is sustainability given enough importance in the classroom?
With climate change and the demand to create a responsible and adaptive built environment, is sustainability given enough importance in the classroom?
In July this year, a private university in Gujarat launched a climate school to prepare students for roles requiring climate modelling and analysis. Among the programmes offered by the Anant School for Climate Action is one that helps candidates use engineering rigour and tools to create technology-driven solutions to climate change. Meanwhile, representatives from various countries have gathered this month at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, for Conference of the Parties (COP27) — to deal with the environment crisis resulting from rapid urbanisation across the world. There is much talk about achieving ‘net zero’ carbon emissions in the next two or three decades. Also take into consideration the potential in India to create more than three million renewable energy jobs by 2030. This is a good time to question if India’s current formal education system presents a clear understanding of our changing climate, with solutions to mitigate or adapt to it.
Eco targets in construction
There is a lot of work going into making construction more environmentally friendly and this is where a new generation of green builders will play a role. It is why academics and architects are demanding a revamp of the syllabus for a more comprehensive inclusion of sustainability in architecture courses. Prem Chandavarkar, Managing Partner of CnT Architects and a theorist based in Bengaluru, says, “There is little coverage of sustainability in most architecture schools, and where it is discussed, there is insufficient clarity on the subject. For many years, there has been a subject called “Climatology” where principles of climate-responsive design are taught. But it is generally treated as an isolated theory course whose principles receive little consideration in the projects designed in the core course of ‘Design Studio’.”
Some claim that the inclusion of sustainability as a topic is nothing more than “lip service”. “Nothing informative is being taught, which would help to improve their knowledge and skills,” insists Vinu Daniel, the Kerala-based award-winning architect who is known for his sustainable units featuring mud, bamboo, scrap and casuarina trees.
Interdisciplinary education
There are over 450-plus architecture colleges in the country, but less than 20 offer courses on energy efficiency and sustainable design, observes Miniya Chatterji, CEO of Sustain Labs Paris and Director of Centre for Sustainability at Anant National University. “In the past decade, architecture courses have adopted the concepts of green buildings in their curriculum. Yet there is hardly anything beyond that. As per media reports, about five lakh students graduate from building sector-related courses each year, but their curriculum does not prepare them to implement Net Zero Energy.”
Leading architects highlight the need for interdisciplinary education. Simon Allford, president of the Royal Institute of British Architects, was among several sustainable architecture experts that Dezeen magazine interviewed ahead of COP27. “We must shift towards interdisciplinary education and practice, commit to reporting successes and sharing lessons learned, and constantly challenge current methods and approaches to ensure all what we follow is aligned with our sustainability goals,” he was quoted saying. To this effect, the curriculum of the Anant School for Climate Action is multi-disciplinary, with subjects like behaviour sciences and also mandatory applied research projects every semester. This is also in line with what experts have been demanding — to make architecture courses more research-based rather than being grading-based only.
While the topic of sustainability is discussed quite often, sadly implementation is where the buck stops. One must ask questions such as: What are the dimensions of sustainability?
Visitors walk under an array of potted succulent plants in the Green Zone at the COP27 United Nations Climate Summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
| Photo Credit: Getty images
What are the core principles, methodologies, and tools of environmentally-sensitive design? What are the metrics by which we measure whether we are on the path toward sustainability? What are the differences in approach toward sustainability at the various levels of a single building, neighbourhood, city and region? Is sustainability just a matter of design, or is it a matter of building performance that has to be managed after design and construction are over? What are the means by which design can enable and enhance post-occupancy performance?”
Chandavarkar says that there are subjects that teach the principles of climate-responsive design, but it is nothing less than a theoretical topic. “There is little coverage of sustainability in most architecture schools, and where it is discussed, there is insufficient clarity on the subject. For many years there has been a subject called ‘Climatology’ where principles of climate-responsive design are taught. But it is generally treated as an isolated theory course whose principles receive little consideration in the projects designed in the core course of ‘Design Studio’,” he says.
Is sustainability just a matter of design, or is it a matter of building performance that has to be managed after design and construction are over?
| Photo Credit: Getty images
Grading system
Students from architecture institutions agree that these topics are briefly covered in the syllabus. A student from Anna University, Chennai, who does not want to be named, says that during the course she has to submit assignments on various topics, including on sustainability.
She says, “Our courses are based on a grading system. During this course period, we have to design buildings by considering various ratings and parameters. This includes selection of environment-friendly site, maintaining inner air quality inside the building, usage biomass products, ensuring lower emission of greenhouse gases into atmosphere, space for the installation of renewable energy equipment, etc.”
A global comparative study of the architecture syllabus will be a research project and paper in its own right, says Chandavarkar. “As architects, we have conventionally approached the challenge of sustainability as a knowledge problem. And to fix this, we feel it is necessary to proselytise about sustainable design. The challenge can be fixed only by promoting sustainable design. Hence, we seek to build recycling systems and technologies, materials and products that promote sustainability, renewable energy, ecology, the water cycle, etc. We also propagate rating systems on sustainable design,” he says.
In 2020, the Central government came up with a notification on a revised structure for the architecture course and included choice-based credit system by revising the Council of Architecture (Minimum Standards of Architectural Standards) Regulations. The undergraduation in architecture study was divided into four different courses: Professional Core course; Building Sciences and Applied Engineering course; Elective course, and Employability Enhancement course. But, the curriculum does not promote or initiate students pursuing architecture courses to carry out research work in their respective area of interest.
Environment-friendly constructions need not be a distant reality if the syllabus is revamped to create a fresh generation of green builders.
sanal.m@thehindu.co.in
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